I'm Moving On Like Lovely as a Tree

As they say..."all good things must come to an end". The time has come for Stampin' Up! to retire their oldest stamp set, the iconic Lovely As A Tree.

Like Lovely as a Tree, the time has also come for me to say goodbye to Stampin' Up! as well.

I thought it was fitting to share a card made with this stamp set today as I tell you of my decision to leave Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator. The past couple of years I have been finding less and less time to stamp as my passion for portrait photography has grown.

While I love SU! products and sharing stamping time as well as my creations with family and friends, I feel it best to devote my time and energy into fulfilling my dream of launching my photography business. I'm still in the process, but hope to be officially in business later this year.

Over the years I have loved spending time being creative with such an amazing array of products, but the thing I loved most about Stampin' Up! was all the wonderful people I have met along the way. Several women who came into my life as casual acquaintances or even complete strangers, solely because of our common interest in paper crafting, have become dear friends.

Some I met when they came to my classes or invited me into their home for a workshop and others I met through my blog. Many of you have left encouraging comments, some have purchased SU! products or bought my tutorials...to all of you I say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! I don't honestly think I would have stayed at this for almost 15 years if it weren't for all of you!

OK...onto the card! :-)

Lovely as a Tree was first introduced in 2001 and it was one of the first stamp sets I purchased after signing up as a SU! Demonstrator in 2004. I have used it a lot! I've also used Hardwood and Thoughtful Banners quite a bit and those are retiring as well.

This set has always been so versatile and timeless. It is great for any season or occasion and perfect for a variety of techniques. I've used one of my favorite techniques...the Watercolor Background Technique to easily create a colorful blended background for the trees.

A photo I recently took in my backyard was the inspiration for my card. I love the beautiful colors of sunset...and on this evening the sky was absolutely spectacular with so many different hues and the clouds had created such an interesting pattern.

I still plan to post my occasional projects here, but if you would like to stay in touch I do have a Facebook page dedicated to my photography. I'd love for you to like my page and follow me on my new journey. You can also find me on Instagram. I have been re-organizing my studio space and plan to have some SU! products to sell...so check back here soon for updates.

Thanks again for being part of my Stampin' Up! journey!

Lovely Oak 100th Birthday Card

Today, on Memorial Day as we remember those in who have sacrificed so much for our freedom I thought I would share a story about a WWII Veteran who will be celebrating his 100th birthday very soon. 

For his 100th birthday on June 6th...which comes 74 years after he was miraculously pulled off a Normandy-bound boat on D-Day, Michigan WWII veteran Isaac "Ike" Fabela has just one wish, his family said...Mr. Fabela will be anxiously checking his mail, as the happy and humble vet hopes to rack up 100 birthday cards from well-wishers across the country.

Today I am sharing the card I made for him, and I'm hoping that maybe you will also take a little time to send him a card as well. (address and link is at the end of this post)

I thought it was fitting to use Stampin' Up!'s oldest and one of the most beloved stamp sets- Lovely As A Tree for his card. I used the Tailored Tag Punch to create the border on the left side of the card. Crumb Cake, Early Espresso and soon to be retired Dapper Denim were stamped using the Hardwood stamp inked in Whisper White. The Mossy Meadow main panel was stamped using the oak leaf image from the Lovely As A Tree set. The oak tree image was watercolored using an Aqua Painter.

To embellish the card I used Linen Thread and one of those wooden shapes that were offered in the Holiday Catalog a couple of seasons ago. The sentiment is computer generated since I didn't have a suitable sized sentiment to use.

I am sure that Mr. Fabela will be surprised with all the wonderful birthday greetings he is sure to receive in honor of his special day. He sounds like a kind-hearted and wonderful man...can you imagine all the stories he has lived to tell? If you would like to read more about his story please visit this link.

Thanks to all who send him a card:

Ike Fabela
C/O Nick Rodgers
PO Box 3112 Montrose, MI 48457

Lastly, I would like to say thank you to all of our service men and women and their families for the selfless life they've pursued.

Lovely Pine Thank You

Happy Friday with a long weekend ahead! That's the good news...bad news is Summer of 2016 will be behind us after this weekend. Where did it go!? With school starting and Fall approaching it is time to be thinking of the upcoming Holidays. Stampin' Up! has them all covered in the new Holiday Catalog! Todays card combines some new favorite products with a long time (very long time!) favorite...Lovely as a Tree to create a quick thank you card.

The Mint Macaron background is embossed with the new Pine Bough Embossing Folder. The sentiment from the Flourishing Phrases set is heat embossed in Copper Embossing Powder. The pine cone is cut from the new Copper Foil Sheets using the Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies.

Thanks for visiting...enjoy your weekend!

Lovely Cozy Christmas

Old stamps meet new and some sparkle adds a magical touch to this peaceful, monochromatic winter scene.

"The old"...is of course Lovely as a Tree and "the new" is Cozy Christmas which is available in this years Holiday Catalog. I just LOVE the Santa and reindeer image from that set, don't you? "The sparkle" is Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper for the snow drift and Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder used with the Gorgeous Grunge splatter image to create the falling snow. I embossed the wooden Snowflake Element with it as well.

Happy Friday (the 13th!) Have a GREAT weekend!

Flippin' Friday - Fall Flip Card

Happy Friday everyone! Here's a couple of Fall Flip cards I made using the Label Card Thinlit Die and the ever versatile set Lovely As a Tree. This one is a thank you card, but it could just as easily work as a masculine birthday card or a Thanksgiving card as you will see in my other version below.

I randomly stamped the oak leaf image from this set (mask off the parts you don't want inked with post it notes) and then wheeled over the panel with the Timber wheel.

The panel on the right uses Early Espresso Core'dinations Card stock which I embossed using the Woodgrain Embossing Folder. The tree was colored with my Aqua Painter and various colors of Classic Ink.

This is the Thanksgiving version which has an extended panel.

The Charles Dickens quote was from the retired set Always Thankful. The embossed panel flips put for a larger space to write a message.

I just added a little interest with some stamped leaves in Crumb Cake and some Washi Tape from the Epic Day Collection.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Supply List:

• Lovely As A Tree Wood-mount Stamp Set
• Lovely As A Tree Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Timber Stampin' Around Standard Wheel
• Label Card Thinlits Die
• Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
• Large Oval Punch
• Pumpkin Pie 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Neutrals Core'dinations
• Epic Day This And That Designer Washi Tape
• Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad
• Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad
• Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad
• Aqua Painter

Lovely as a Christmas Tree

An old favorite meets some new favorite products for an updated look using this old classic standby, Lovely As A Tree.

I was inspired by the pretty samples of Christmas tree set in the Holiday Catalog paired up with the Winter Frost DSP and thought to myself, I can do something similar with the pine tree from Lovely As A Tree. This is what I came up with. This card is simple enough to create in mass quantities, but the shimmery silver embossing along with the rhinestones (colored with sharpies) add nice details. I think this is going to be one of my Christmas cards I send out this year.

Have a lovely weekend!

Lovely Trees at Sunset

When playing around with the watercolor background technique a while back I thought I'd try creating a sunset (or sunrise?) background for one of my all time favorite stamps...the row of trees from Lovely as a Tree. Here's what I came up with...

Other than adding a scored border to frame the image, I left it rather plain so I can add a sentiment later (or not?) when I need a card to send off in a hurry. Here is another version...

Again, I left off the sentiment to add at a later time when needed. If you haven't tried the watercolor background technique yet, the instructions on how to create this fun background are here.

Have a great day & keep cool! It's so hot & humid in Michigan right now! I'm glad my stampin' lair is downstairs where it's always nice and cool...I'm heading down there shortly.

Well Worn Lovely Tree

The well worn in my title refers to the paper I used on this card, but I guess it could also refer to the stamp set as well, because Lovely As A Tree has definitely been one of my most used and loved stamp sets. It is by far the only current set I've had since my first year as a demo. I'm glad it made the cut again this year. For those of you who don't have this one yet, you might be pleased to know that it will also be available in Clear Mount in the new catalog starting in June!

Stamps: Lovely As A Tree, Loving Thoughts
Ink: Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy
Card stock: Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla & Well Worn DSP
Accessories: Always Artichoke Seam Binding Ribbon, Labels Framelits, Wood grain Texturz plate (retired), Metallic Brads & Circle Nestabilities

Thanks for visiting today. :-)

Brayered Lovely Trees

Still one of my very favorite sets after all these years...Lovely As a Tree. Even though it's one of my favorites, I hadn't used it in a while. I was inspired by this beautiful card I saw in the gallery at SCS to get it out and create this.

The background is brayered using Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze & Certainly Celery inks. I then used my Simply Scored tool to create some lines for added interest. The bottom of the Whisper White panel was cut using the new Edgelits Dies and then embossed with the coordinated embossing folder. Ribbon is Pear Pizzazz Seam Binding.

Have a lovely weekend!

Masculine Tree for Father

Here is the third card we did at my last card class. Since the group makes 3 of each card and there is only a short time to complete them, I try to keep the designs fairly simple. For this one we used one of my very favorite stamp sets...Lovely As A Tree to create a masculine card for Father's Day or any occasion.

See the Chocolate Chip "brads" at the bottom of the card? Those were created by punching out Chocolate Chip card stock with the 1/4" Circle Punch and then covering them with Crystal Effects. This is a great alternative if you don't have brads in the color you want.

If you have a little more time to be creative, you can take the same basic card shown above and step it up. Here is another version of the same card.

I used the same colors and stamps but added some detail and texture. The added strip of Artichoke card stock under the ribbon is lightly distressed and then paper pierced. The bottom of the card has a little texture from the wood grain Texturz Plate. This time I used Vintage Brads in place of the faux brads.

Stamps: Lovely As A Tree
Ink: Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss & Chocolate Chip
Card stock: Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss & Crumb Cake (AKA Kraft)
Accessories: Soft Suede Polka dot Grosgrain & Vintage Brads
Hope you have a wonderful day with Dad!

Lovely Oak in the Autumn Meadow

Well, if this tree was at my house it would have a dusting of snow on it! We got our first bit of snow here last night...makes me excited for a white Christmas! (that's about the only time I like snow...makes me wonder why I live in Michigan?!) Anyways...here's a quick card I made for a friend using one of my favorite stamps sets...I've had this one since I first became a demo five years ago. Each time SU! puts out it's list of retiring sets I hope it won't be included.
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Teenie Tiny Wishes
Ink: Basic Brown & various others to watercolor
Card stock: Not Quite Navy, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla and Autumn Meadows DP
Accessories: Texturz plate, Word Window & Modern Label punches

Have a wonderful weekend!

Lovely Tree Thanksgiving

I created this card a while ago when a new customer said she would love to learn the cracked glass technique. I remembered that I hadn't shared it here as I was getting it ready to mail off to my Dad. This card also works for this weeks challenge at Stamp Something.

The oak leaf image comes from one of my all time favorite stamp sets - Lovely As A Tree. I watercolored the image and then used Glassy Glaze embossing powder over the top to create the cracked glass technique. I describe how to do this fun technique in another post found here. After I cracked the image I also sponged on some Creamy Caramel ink using re-inker and a stampin' sponge so that it would really highlight the cracks. After I got the look I desired, I wiped the image with a paper towel to remove the extra ink.
Stamps: Lovely As A Tree, Sanded background, Holidays & Wishes
Card stock: Haiku DP, Creamy Caramel, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive & Very Vanilla
Ink:Black Stazon, VersaMark, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip & various to watercolor
Accessories: Glassy Glaze EP, Heat Tool, Vintage brads, Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, mat pack, Ticket Corner punch
If you're in the mood to shop...don't forget that Stampin' Up!'s Holiday Extravaganza Sale starts today! There are some awesome discounted bundles offered in this sale! Hop on over to my demo website to start your shopping now.
I probably won't be back to post tomorrow... so I want to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! I hope you get to spend it with those you love most.

Two Fall Themed Pages

At stamp club on Friday the group got to choose between two different fall themed scrapbook pages. They both used the same layout and colors, just different stamp sets and embellishments. The first layout, shown below, used the beautiful set Harvest Home along with it's coordinating wheel Fall Harvest. This one is perfect for Thanksgiving photos.
My inspiration for this layout came from page 111 of the Idea Book & Catalog. The layout there used Bella Blossoms and totally different colors, but I was able to make it work with the stamps and accessories I wanted to use. Do you like the buttons on the bottom left? Here's a closer look:

I used my new Buttons Sizzlet die (available from SU!) and my Big Shot to make the buttons. To add extra dimension, each button was embossed with Glassy Glaze. I think this die is just the cutest and I know I'll be using it a lot - now I can have as many buttons as I need in whatever color I want!
The other layout they could choose was done with the Season of Friendship set. This one was a little simpler, in that there wasn't any watercoloring, but the trade off was that it did require some intricate cutting around the tree.
The oak leaf from Lovely As A Tree was stamped on the background of the Artichoke & Mustard panels instead of the Fall Harvest wheel. Three die cut oak leaves cut using the Big Shot replaced the buttons. (not sure of the name of the oak leaf die) The title was cut using a set of Sizzlets called Fruit Smoothie. The strip down the center was done using the same leaf stamp from Harvest Home used on the first layout, but the leaves were omitted by inking the vine only with the Chocolate Chip marker. Then the leaves that were used for the tree were added to the vine for a coordinating look.

So, which layout would you have chosen? My group was evenly divided - half chose the Harvest Home layout and the other half chose the Season of Friendship. Thanks for stopping by...enjoy your day!

Thankful

With today being Veteran's Day, I thought the topic of being thankful is a good one. Along with with being thankful for all the brave veterans who have defended our country, and those who still are, there are many things to be thankful for in life! Of course family, friends, health & happiness would top my list, but I am also thankful for all the creative fun I have because of Stampin' Up! On Friday night I enjoyed the evening visiting and sharing my November projects with my hostess club group. Our November hostess treated us to some scrumptious snacks...fondue with both chocolate & cheese and a beautiful tray filled with goodies to dip plus a nice bottle of wine. Thank you Cheri!

We did this Thanksgiving scrapbook page with a cute paper pieced turkey and pumpkin made from the Pick a Petal set and different punches. I have been wanting to use the spiral punch to create a film strip mat for a series of small photos since I got this punch months ago...I finally remembered to use it on this page. This works great for scraps of cropped photos like the oak leaves and bowls of food I used on my strip. All I did was punch them out with my 1-3/8" square punch and they were ready to adhere to the mat.

We used a strip of the Creepy Crawly designer paper to create the border along the bottom and photo corners on the title. Since there are white stripes on this paper and I was using Vanilla card stock for the rest of the project it looked kind of out of place. I easily fixed that by distressing the paper with my favorite jumbo wheel: Rough Around the Edges. I inked it up in Creamy Caramel and went right over the printed paper to give it some texture. I also used it on the journal block and title after I was done stamping those. But I didn't stop there...I also used the wheel inked in Old Olive to texturize all the Old Olive card stock. I can't say enough about that wheel...love it!!! All the edges of the card stock and paper were then "aged" by using the direct to paper technique with the Earth Elements chalk ink pads (retired) or a Chocolate Chip craft spot. For me it's a lot easier handling either of those smaller inks to distress than it is a full sized pad.

Stamps: Pick a Petal, Trimtastic, Lovely as a Tree, Letterpress & Typeset alphabets, Rough Around the Edges jumbo wheel

Ink: Old Olive, Really Rust, More Mustard & Pumpkin Pie

Card stock: Old Olive, Really Rust, Very Vanilla, Creepy Crawly

Accessories: LOTS of punches! Artichoke grosgrain, Vintage brads, markers: Old Olive, More Mustard & Pumpkin Pie for journaling

The other project everyone did was a Christmas card using Lovely As A Tree. I was inspired by this beautiful card from a blog I visit regularly called Paper Pleasing Ideas. Julie is so talented and does beautiful work!

To created this card a reverse masking technique was used. First, a mask was cut out of a piece of scrap paper using the coluzzle and the oval template. After I cut the oval out of the center of my scrap paper, I used a bit of 2-way glue on the corners to hold it in place on my white card stock. Then I sponged inside the edges of the oval with Soft Sky ink leaving the center mostly white. Keeping the mask in place, I added the 3 trees inside the oval with Versamark. Then I used the poppin' pastels technique to make them soft and appear in the background. After I was done with this I removed my mask and stamped the last tree image and the sentiment (with the help of my stamp-a-ma-jig). This card just has a simple, elegant feel to it...I love it!
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Holidays & Wishes
Ink: Soft Sky, Versamark, Blue Bayou, Handsome Hunter
Card stock: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Whisper White
I need to run and getting busy on some Christmas cards for a class I'm doing. I need to get busy and make my own cards too! Enjoy your day!

It's all about the accessories

This week I made a few cards, all for men. My inspiration was a really nice color block design that I remembered seeing in a gallery on SCS. Since two of the cards were sympathy cards, I wanted a more toned down color scheme, but I basically used that design, with a few changes. I made the two sympathy cards first, and when I got to assembling the birthday cards, I decided to try using a couple different accessories. I thought I'd show you all three variations.For the sympathy cards I wanted a simple, clean layout so I didn't add any embellishments at all.
The first birthday card was for my brother, so I used some twill tape stamped with the word brother. A simple touch that adds a little extra to the card.



The final card uses a line of three copper brads along the side. I think I like the look of this one the best because it looks so nice with the brushed copper card stock used for matting the tree image. However, I was happy with the way all three cards turned out and it was fun making each one just a bit different.
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Weathered background, Warmest Regards (Level 1 hostess set) and Everyday Flexible Phrases
Ink: True Thyme, Chocolate Chip & various for water coloring
Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Brushed Copper & Watercolor paper
Have a nice weekend!